Chapter 257

Chapter 257. I thought I had a lot of friends…

Suddenly, Tiamat’s favorability took a hit due to an unfair event, and I wondered what was going on. After investigating, I discovered a secret and terrifying plan by superhumans to create clones of me, called the “Commander Enhancement Plan.”

I immediately mobilized Jessica, Partia, and naturally, Ignis, who had joined our side, to dismantle this plan and its associated group (?). During the process, we also found a clone production system and tried to forcibly dismantle it, but…

“Pffft!”

“Gryanarr, this isn’t like you.”

“But Commander, I worked really hard on this!”

Gryanarr, who usually acts like a relaxed little devil, was sprawled on the floor, vehemently opposing the dismantling. It looked like if we pushed further, it would end up like a cardboard house collapsing, so I decided to let it go.

Of course, I casually asked Gryanarr if creating an army of superhuman clones was possible, but Gryanarr, who had been crying moments ago, proved it was all crocodile tears by instantly getting up and waving a pet tentacle, firmly stating it was impossible.

Even Gryanarr-Emon said it was impossible, so I felt down realizing that my dream of an awesome superhuman-clone army wouldn’t come true.

==========

Anyway, after dismantling the so-called “Commander Enhancement Plan” (which was actually a “Commander Exploitation and Mass Production of Biological X Plan”), I decided it was time to address a very important issue.

“…Jessica.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“I think it’s about time we either create or join a clan.”

“Oh… finally?”

And that was the shift in perspective regarding “clans.”

Although I had reflected on it once before, I had avoided dealing with clans due to bad memories in this game, which gave me some form of PTSD. But now, with time having passed and memories becoming hazy, I started to think maybe it was time to create or join a clan.

However, there was one problem I hadn’t anticipated…

—————————————-

<Clan Creation Menu>

˪<Clan Name: (Blank)>

˪<Clan Leader: Icarus>

˪<Clan Members: Currently 1>

˪<Clan Funds: Minimum 10,000 Gold (Current Leader's Gold: 41,055)>

<<<Clan Creation Impossible!>>>

˪<Reason: Minimum of 5 members required excluding the leader>

—————————————-

‘What.’

That’s right.

To create a clan, you need at least 5 friends (?).

That was the problem.

Of course, such a restriction didn’t exist in my memory or in the situation after I was possessed here.

“Why did they suddenly change it so drastically? Back in the day, you could make clans with just 2-3 people, or even solo clans for fun.”

“Exactly.”

I wondered what was going on.

Thinking I might have early-onset dementia, I immediately went to the gallery to look up clan-related information. Fortunately, I soon found a post and replies from someone in a similar situation, and through the comments, I understood what had happened.

—————————————-

Title: Why is there a minimum member requirement for clans now?

Author: Manta Black

Content: [Image of the ‘Minimum Member Requirement’ warning in the clan settings window.jpg]

I don’t remember this being a thing before.

It just popped up out of nowhere.

I was trying to form a clan with just 3 friends, and this showed up.

Wasn’t this restriction non-existent before?

At least in my memory, you could do it without any member limits.

Comments:

-[Yeah]

-[It just appeared at some point]

-[Just make 2 more friends to fill the quota]

-[They changed it with a stealth patch, no announcement]

-[But existing 1 or 2-3 member clans weren’t removed…]

A lot of people don’t know, lol.

– [Oh, for real?]

—————————————-

Title: A lot of people don’t know about the new clan member limit.

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Image of the menu that pops up when creating a clan]

Now that this topic has come up, more people will probably know about it.

But I don’t know why the limit was implemented.

I heard it’s because some people were messing around with 1 or 5-member clans, causing a lot of issues.

That’s why they supposedly changed the system itself.

Honestly, no one among the users probably knows for sure.

They didn’t even announce the reason and just stealth-patched it, so how would anyone know?

But the funny thing is, they imposed the limit, yet the existing 1 or 5-member clans are still intact.

—————————————-

Comments:

– [What kind of issues did the admins face?]

– [What could they possibly do to cause such problems?]

– [No idea lol]

– [Honestly, I think it’s more about preventing people from messing around with clans rather than any specific issue.]

– [Maybe they didn’t announce it because it wasn’t a big deal.]

– [Shouldn’t they announce updates if they change something? lol]

– [Our game doesn’t do that kind of thing.]

—————————————-

Aside from that, a lot of random discussions popped up.

But to summarize, it seems the “system” has changed.

“Hmm.”

“Did the system change, Commander?”

“That’s right, thanks to that, I now know I don’t have early-onset dementia.”

“…What?”

Of course, there’s no way to know why they imposed the member limit.

But after searching through the posts, it seems this has been around for at least 2-3 months.

Anyway, since the system demands it, I decided to find 5 friends (?) to join the clan.

But just as I was about to start looking, Jessica, who was watching from the side, stabbed me with a sharp remark.

“By the way, Commander, there’s one thing I’m curious about.”

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have any friends, so how do you plan to create a clan?”

“What.”

‘What.’

She effortlessly struck a verbal blow, like a master of Tai Chi.

I responded to Jessica’s words as calmly and unshaken as possible.

“What are you talking about, Jessica? Are you saying I don’t have any connections?”

Who am I?

The charming rank 3 who receives rewards and visits from the three major clans.

The man of 3.

How could you say I have no connections? This is outrageous.

But despite my confident response, Jessica kept hitting me with harsh truths.

“Commander, honestly, how many people who come here to chat haven’t already joined a clan?”

“…Huh?”

That’s right.

What good are connections?

Arcadia? Betelgeuse?

They’re the leaders of the top five largest clans.

Tiara, who I met recently and still chat with sometimes?

She’s part of the Humanity Clan.

And as for others… there’s no one?

‘Wait, why is there no one?’

Trying to counter Jessica’s cowardly and vicious fact-checking, I racked my brain for anyone I knew…

“Ma, Marian is…”

“Marian isn’t a Commander, Commander.”

There’s no one.

It’s a realization that hit me hard, but I’ve barely interacted with other users while playing this game.

Feeling the sting of Jessica’s brutal truth, my enthusiasm for creating a clan plummeted exponentially.